As time passes, it is clear that the current state of DCS is one where official modules and community-made mods are in complete unison. This is even more evident now that some big servers have now included some mods to their roster of aircraft, one of these servers being Enigma's Cold War server with its inclusion of the A-4E not that long ago.
This made me realize that despite my small and short involvement in the project, I hadn't flown the Skyhawk in a long time. Join me as I revisit this old friend of mine and take it out for a couple of sorties, it will be fun!
The first thing I noticed when I booted up the Scooter is that I felt at home. This mod's textures and models have a very particular style thanks to the way that Plusnine made them. They are not photorealistic, but they feel lived in; especially in the cockpit. It feels like it has a soul. Another aspect that immediately caught my eye was the visible cockpit shake from the slats deploying due to my current AoA. This is the work of JNelson and Farlander, both of them being the EFM developers of this project and the ones that brought the Scooter out from the SFM hell that it used to be in. Speaking of EFM, this is the third aspect that immediately jumped at me: the feeling of flying the Scooter is as amazing as I remember it.
It is not a difficult aircraft to fly, in the slightest, but it does not shy away from showing you who is really in control if you treat it wrong. It is a true pilot's aircraft that doesn't limit your ability to pull and turn as hard as you can, as long as you can manage some of its negative characteristics at high AoA, slow speeds, etc. The Scooter's weapon deployment capabilities are also robust, for an aircraft of this era and size. You can use everything from the simplest iron bombs to AGM-45 Shrikes, which makes this mod one of the most capable ones out there at the moment. It has been this way ever since its release, and I do not see that going away any time soon.
Revisiting this mod has made me realize how well it has faired against the test of time. While other mods come and go, their teams disbanded or simply moved on from their projects, the Skyhawk's well-designed and future-proof nature has kept it from falling under the same fate.
About the writer:
Santiago "Cubeboy" Cuberos
Longtime aviation fanatic with particular preference towards military aviation and its history. Said interests date back to the early 2000s, leading into his livelong dive into civil and combat flight simulators. He has been involved in a few communities, but only started being active around the mid 2010s. Joined as a Spanish to English translator in 2017, he has been active as the co-founder and writer ever since. Twitter | Discord: Cubeboy
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